Ultrafast All-Optical Coupling of Light to Surface Plasmon Polaritons on Plain Metal Surfaces

Nir Rotenberg, Markus Betz, and Henry M. van Driel
Phys. Rev. Lett. 105, 017402 – Published 29 June 2010

Abstract

We propose and demonstrate an ultrafast all-optical method to couple light to surface plasmon polaritons on planar gold films. By interfering two 150 fs, 810 nm pulses we excite a transient grating in the temperature of the free electrons of the metal, resulting in a grating in the dielectric function, and leading to a 1 ps launch window for plasmonic excitation. We use pump-probe experiments to identify these ultrashort plasmonic excitations between 520 and 570 nm.

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  • Received 14 December 2009

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.105.017402

©2010 American Physical Society

Authors & Affiliations

Nir Rotenberg*, Markus Betz, and Henry M. van Driel

  • Department of Physics and Institute for Optical Sciences, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, M5S 1A7 Canada

  • *nrotenbe@physics.utoronto.ca

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Vol. 105, Iss. 1 — 2 July 2010

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